WELL JULY has been and gone. It’s been mixed, but I’ve come out the other side with a positive attitude and I may have also just agreed to another challenge for next year. I know, I seem to be incapable to say no!
I turned 34 at the end of June. That in itself is no big deal. Lots of people turn 34. But I genuinely almost forgot it.
The two weeks leading up to it hadn’t gone so well training-wise. I’d lost a bit of my mojo, running just wasn’t really happening and I’d not been in the pool all that much. All classic signs of over-training and pushing that little too hard. My birthday marked a much needed week off, and some downtime with no mention of training. I even managed to get a bit of sunbathing in.
So, to mark the return to training I started keeping a training journal, something I should have done on a more regular basis a long time ago. Looking back at my entries I notice that I hadn’t been sleeping all that well. I’m usually pretty hard on myself when bad sleep affects training, but I’m learning to accept that these things are what they are. Yes, a bad night’s sleep can ruin the next day’s training, but looking into why that happened in the first place is a step towards making the right changes.
This month I finally went along to join the Brighton Triathlon Race Series group of guys and girls. A not for profit group that just enjoys racing and training together. Mid-month saw me join up with one of their Olympic distance tris. It was a really nice day for it, with the sun out and the sea calm. I hadn’t actually been in the sea since June last year and it was the first time out for the new Huub Archimedes 2 wetsuit. It was such a laid back event and everyone was welcoming that it was quite funny when, after the swim route had been gone over several times, most of us ended up going wrong. A few went too short, a couple actually got it right while I, along with a few others, swam a further 500m, putting us on the back foot and playing catch-up. It was such a fun event that it highlighted the reasons why I love this sport. There weren’t any medals, or fancy t-shirt, but I made some new friends and there was even a goodie bag with a few nice little treats. I had a strong bike and a steady run to finish 8th. Not a bad way to spend a Saturday morning at all.
A few days rest and I was back with the group for a bit of a sea swim. This lead to an interesting conversation. They were holding a half iron distance race on the Saturday and I was asked if I fancied the swim. I had planned my long ride day and told them so, so the suggestion was made to bring my bike along and head out on my ride after my swim, a bit of a brick session. I couldn’t fault that logic (and yes, it DID seem logical at the time), so I thought why not. Seeing as I was doing the swim and a ride, why not do a run after and do the race? I mean, yeah, why not? Maybe because it’s not the sort of race that someone just turns up to at the last minute without training specifically for it the week after a strong finish at an Olympic distance tri. Turns out I’m the sort of person that does. So I did.
That’s right, 6am that Saturday after one full days notice of a race I had no plans to even do, I racked my bike, pulled on my wetsuit and stood in the cold with the BTRS guys wondering how I managed to be standing there in the first place. My girlfriend was working that day, and all week I’d actually planned a bit of a lay in of all things.
It was a spectacularly lovely morning, the sea around 17 degrees (apparently) and very calm. This time we had a kayak to follow, so what could possibly go wrong? Well the kayak going the wrong way would be a start, and it did, so the 1.9km swim became 2.4km. I settled in to a very nice rhythm and just focused on watching the kayak. Up on to the beach and in to T1 to be told I was second out of the water behind their top swimmer (who can put in a nine-hour Ironman). Well that surprised the hell out of me, even more so when I got out on the bike in first. I was overtaken within the mile, but kept him well in sight for the next five, which wasn’t that bad really. 40 miles later I lost second place, but to be fair, I was amazed I held on that long. The return leg brought a pretty hefty headwind that sapped the legs.
The first half of the run was as strong as the previous week, but my knee flared up in the second half. It was hot, and my run slowed to more of a fast hobble, but I’d made it this far, so why the hell not just hang on and finish. After all, I still had third place and all I had to do was cross the line.
Yes, I managed to podium on my first 70.3 behind two very strong athletes. It felt a bit odd but something was obviously going right.
So a shaky start to the month, with seemingly endless training taking its toll on my mojo, but a few races thrown in really spiced things up and sharpened my focus and gave me a much needed shot of encouragement. Yes, they were a little last minute, but that had the bonus of not giving me time to over-think it and worry about it. I went in to the 70.3 thinking of it as a training day, with no race pressures, and just see how it went. That’s been the key. Athletes, especially us age groupers, put so much pressure on ourselves and build each race up to something it isn’t. And that kinda takes the fun out of it. This sport takes a huge toll. Hundreds of training hours, dedication and compromises. But at the end of the day, we do it because we want to and think it’s quite fun. Turns out I’m in pretty good shape. Rocking up to that kind of race last minute and actually finishing proves that. And that’s pretty cool to be able to do that.
The nature of my ten million metres challenge means that if something comes along then I really can’t say on if I can help it. This does mean I have to work pretty hard to stay in shape and not just aim for a race. Other races have a habit of turning up, and I’m not in the habit of saying no to them.
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